


The One Who's There

by qwanderer



Series: Midnight Mystery [15]
Category: Amazing Spider-Man (2012), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Avengers Tower character dynamics, F/M, Found Family, Gen, M/M, being kinda introspective, but mostly Bruce
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-17
Updated: 2012-12-17
Packaged: 2017-11-21 09:25:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/596124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/qwanderer/pseuds/qwanderer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Check in with the inhabitants of the tower through Bruce's eyes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The One Who's There

Bruce is the one who's around, the one who never leaves the tower, the one who's always lurking in the kitchen or the stairwells when he's not in the labs. The times and places, the spaces he seeks out, are often one step back from the others, one pace out of range.

He's seeking out the balance between chaos and loneliness, between knowing he's got an escape route and being able to feel the warmth of the people who live here in the tower. So he seeks out quiet times, lingers in the kitchen to hear the quiet conversations of two or three of the others, agrees to projects that include just a few working together, lurks at the corners of large gatherings, skirts the edge between enough interaction and too much.

So he knows things, knows that Jane quietly disapproves of Darcy's life choices but that it doesn't take away from their thick-as-thieves friendship. Jane is more concerned every time Darcy sleeps with someone new than she was when Darcy "accidentally" gained super powers (Bruce had never really believed that tale). Jane doesn't treat Darcy differently afterwards, even though Darcy now sometimes accidentally transfigures her stuff. Bruce likes Jane even outside of the occasional engrossing conversations about radiation they have in the labs.

Bruce knows how things were awkward for like seven minutes between Darcy and Rhodey after they'd slept together and before they became best bros. How Rhodey had made her coffee and tried to let her down easy before he managed to wrap his head around the concept that Darcy was completely cool with that being a one-time thing. How Rhodes nearly choked on his own drink when she'd told him to loosen up and smacked him on the back, smirking, like she was a female clone of Tony.

He knows how Barton still tenses up whenever Loki/Josh enters a room; he knows that Barton and Romanoff are more than just friends, but not in the usual sense. There's no romance to the way they trust each other completely, solidly, like two stones suspended near the apex of an arch. They don't think, they don't wonder, they just stand back-to-back, granting the other as a sure thing. He doesn't know whether they're sleeping together and somehow it doesn't seem relevant.

He knows that Thor can't tell a lie to save his life, but that he does deceive in his own way, sumoning up enthusiasm and jolliness when others are near but occasionally letting his pain and worry leak through when he thinks the others aren't looking. He knows how hard Jane works to balance everything in her life but that it still leaves Thor feeling like he's waiting for something that will never come.

Bruce knows how Peter is the modern kid who's up on all the gadgets and can almost go toe to toe with Tony when it comes to product design and small-scale engineering, but there are some times when the kid just wants to sit down with a paper crossword puzzle and graphite pencil or something else equally shockingly obsolete, because they remind him of his father. The smell of wood shavings, the texture of paper, bring memories back.

Steve doesn't have a lot of friends or connections in the modern world, and at first there's a lot of times that Bruce comes across him sitting by himself, drawing. But Steve is one of those guys who believes so hard in making the world a better place that he can't keep moping for long. So one day Bruce found him in earnest conversation with Pepper about how the words and actions of public figures can move people to do great things. Steve sold a lot of war bonds in his time and he knows. But he wasn't sure what was most important in the modern world. There were so many causes. Bruce joined them gladly, mentioning a couple of his favorite charities - Doctors Without Borders, Kiva, charity: water - and Pepper helped him figure out the most effective ways to publicize the causes he chose.

So Bruce knows that Steve is always happier when he's got a mission, and he's been happier recently. 

Bruce knows that without the labs, without something concrete to do, he'd go crazy.

Crazier.

There's always something to do in the labs, something distracting, fascinating. Tony built them to be that way.

Bruce had been there when Tony was moping around the labs after Pepper had broken it off with him, and the quiet surrounding the usually exuberant man had been startling, and Bruce was the one to tell Jarvis to put on some music (Postal Service, as a compromise between Tony's need for rhythm and Bruce's preference for calm), which startled Tony when he seemed to wake up and ask "Jarvis, what the hell is this crap?" after an album and a half.

Bruce had been there when Tony's fascination with Loki had gone from scientific interest to kinship to more. He hadn't been surprised, not at all. Of course Bruce knows that anything that can think, Tony treats like an equal, and the people who get offended by his attitude are the ones who can't comprehend how much contempt Tony Stark has for himself. Bruce can see, can feel, and relate to that self-loathing, and he knows that Loki can too.

Bruce is there when they start to connect, and when they build each other up, support and heal each other, some of it rubs off on Bruce too. But he's still just a little jealous, because what they've found with each other, he can never have.

He actually feels somewhat parental towards both of them, which, given Loki's age, is frankly bizarre, but he's the one who's there, the one who has to keep careful tabs on emotional currents and good sleeping and eating habits, and if he has to do it for himself, why not them too? And it's not like he's going to get a chance to be a parent in any way that's more real than this. 

Bruce has begun to think of these people as his family.

Bruce knows Clint still has that car in his bedroom, the one Loki put there as a joke one night when he and Tony were bored. Clint actually _likes_ Loki, that's been apparent for a while now, from the way he smiles and laughs at the right times when the blue guy is around, but trust has been a bit harder to come by, and although Clint can now put aside his feelings in battle, that little edge still comes across - not just at Loki when he comes into a room, but also Darcy, as the sorcerer's protege, and Bruce, as the man who gave Loki his powers back, and occasionally Tony, as Loki's lover, all get snapped by Barton's nervous energy now and again.

Bruce knows there are some wounds that can never be healed, and he can't bring himself to regret what he did for Loki after all the good it's done for Tony, for the world through Midnight Mystery, arc pods and the moon lab. But still he wishes, though he knows it's a fruitless wish, that it could all go away, that Clint could feel safe here. Could feel at home.

The way Bruce feels at home.

 

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Father](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1055661) by [SlimReaper](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlimReaper/pseuds/SlimReaper)




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